Chief of Police Ed Whiting introduced the newest members of the Taft Police Department to the Taft City Council Tuesday night.

For the first time in department history, there will be a father and son team working.

In fact, the family members – Doug Hallmark and son Erik – even teamed up on an arrest last week.

The Hallmarks are among a group of new officers added as the department fills vacancies and positions opened up by the addition of two school resource officer positions the city added.

Doug Hallmark is the SRO serving Taft Union High School. He was at the school last week when a man began breaking out the windows of his car with a flashlight. He ended up in a foot chase and brief struggle with the suspect, before the suspect fled again.

His son Erik, was one of the officers who caught up with the suspect, Maxwell West, a couple blocks away.

Doug Hallmark is a veteran law enforcement officer who rose to the rank of senior deputy in the Kern County Sheriff's Department. He left law enforcement before coming back to join the Taft Police Department recently.

Erik Hallmark is also a graduate of the Kern County Sheriff's Academy and has worked for the KCSO as an extra help deputy. He is still in field training.

The other new officers include:

•Mike Miller, who comes to the Taft Police Department with experience in the Kern County High School District Police and the Arvin Police Department.

•Rommel Bautista has 10 years of experience with the Delano Police Department and has also worked with the FBI Gang Task Force. In addition, he is in the United States Army Reserve and had done tours of duty in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

•Moises Martinez is serving as the SRO for the Taft City School District and was the investigating officer in the high-profile case of the two-year-old Taft girl who ingested methamphetamine.